Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1887-04-01

only shall be authorized to receive payment of
any such judgment, and no execution shall
issue lhereon until he directs it.
TIL passage of the substance of law such
as have outlined with the attending nachn-
cry to put in motion, will be carrying out the
plain theory of the act approved February
18th, 1882, and it is hoped will prove effec-
tive.
In connection with the revenues of the
State, I beg leave respectfully to call your at
tention to a recent decision of the Supreme
Court of the United States. affirming that a
law imposing tax upon sample merchants,
although 1t applies to our own citizens as welt
as non residents, is unconstitutional so far as
affects the latter. Interpreting this decision
as given 5y the public prints-not having seen
the exact text-tbe States annual revenue will
be decreased and provision will have to be
made for the deficit The sample-merchants'
license for the fiscal year ending September
3Jth, 1856, aggregated $67, 300. More impor-
tant than this decrease OF revenue is the posi-
ton in which it places our own merchants. It
should be the duty of the Legislature to give
every protection to citizens of Virginia, as
to prevent a competition on unequal terms be-
tween our home merchants and manufactur-
ers. and those who pay no taxes to the support
q
grave question, and it may be necessary for
the Legislature to adapt all our license laws to
this new condition of affairs
HE RECOMMENDS A COMMISSION.
I have the honor to transmit as bearing up
on the debt subject of this message the ac-
companying letter from Mr.. Charles O'Leavy,
Secretary of the Council of Foreign Bondhol-
ders, and also copy of the resolutions which
were adopted at the meeting of the Virginia
bondh olders convened by the Council Of
Foreign Bondholders and held in London on
the Oath of September, 1886. I am informed
by the counsel representing that Association
in this country that they own or practically
control all the consol and ten forty bonds,
and that he therefore believes that the great
bulk of them is now held in Great Britain. am
also in receipt of a copy of q cablegram to
their counsel, bearing date London, March 8,
1887, and saying: Council aud committee
certainly control English bondholders. Any
official intimation of Governments desire to
treat with Council on basis of September res
olutions for exclusive benefit of bonds and
coupons deposited with Council will insure
the deposit of whole" The resolution re-
ferred to in the letter of the secretary of the
Council of Foreign Bondholders asserts
''steadfast determination not to accept the
Rddleberger settlement" but expresses "a
Willingness W mc0t Lu6 OGdI0 duu tutcTItlu IL
reasonable compromise based upon the present
taxation and the available revenue after pro
viding for the constitutional appropriations
for Government schools and other public ex-
pendiiure."
The State has expressed ''steadfast deter
mination" to adhere to the Riddleberger set
Element and does not admit her ability,
''dassd upon the present taratioa,, to pay more
principal and interest than that settlement
d, names, and claims that her annual revenue
will be absorbed by such amount of interest
added to her other necessary expenses. The
question of the financial ability of the State
would seem then to be the sole point of diff
ference between the Commonwealth and her
creditors, or, in other words, how much can
the State pay without increasing her taxes?
repeat my former recommendations for the
appointment of commission whose duty it
shall be to demonstrate tc a similar commits
sion from the bondholders the exact facts and
figures which make up the States revenues
aud expenditures; and point out not only